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US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged his fellow Republicans in Congress to vote to release records linked to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing his previous resistance to such a move.
Trump’s message on his Truth Social came after House Speaker Mike Johnson said earlier that he believed a vote on releasing Justice Department documents in the Epstein case should help put to rest allegations that Trump had a connection to Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of minor girls.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files because we have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote Sunday evening. “And it’s time to put aside this Democratic hoax perpetrated by radical left-wing crazies to distract from the great success of the Republican Party, including our recent victory over the Democratic shutdown.”
Although Trump and Epstein were photographed together decades ago, the president said the two men had fallen out before Epstein’s conviction. Emails released last week by a House committee showed that the disgraced financier believed Trump “knew about the girls,” although the meaning of that phrase was unclear.
Trump, who recently called the Epstein files a Democratic smear campaign, has since tasked the Justice Department with investigating ties between prominent Democrats and Epstein.
The battle over the release of further Epstein-related documents, an issue Trump himself campaigned on, has opened a rift with some of his allies in Congress.
US President Donald Trump attacked his staunch Republican ally, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, on social media, apparently over her willingness to release the Epstein files. The feud divides the MAGA movement and fuels questions about Trump’s ties to the convicted sex offender.
Many of Trump’s most loyal supporters believe the government is withholding sensitive documents about Epstein, a convicted sex offender who killed himself in prison in 2019, that would reveal the late financier’s ties to powerful public figures.
Trump on Friday night withdrew his support for U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, long one of his strongest supporters in Congress, following her criticism of Republicans on issues, including the handling of the Epstein cases.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat and an early sponsor of the petition calling for a vote on releasing the files, said Sunday he expected more than 40 Republicans to vote in favor.
